Although Shin Jihye usually manages the guild, Joo Yiwon is Chungram’s guildmaster. With Yiwon’s skillful negotiation skills that rival Jihye’s, Jiho was able to leave Alchemy of the Night with much better conditions than he had hoped for.
Jiho walked out feeling light and grinned at Yiwon.
“Thanks for today.”
“This sort of thing, I can help you whenever.”
“I feel like I learned a lot too.”
Though it’s annoying how Yiwon’s always ahead, Jiho has a lot to learn from him. While some take learning something they don’t know as a hit to their pride, Jiho isn’t like that. He can just pass him once he learns everything. Thinking that way actually charges him more.
Of course, there are times he wonders if he’ll ever be able to pass Joo Yiwon with his effort alone.
Seeing Jiho’s excitement at the successful negotiation, Yiwon slowly embraced him from behind.
The hands touching his body and the scent tickling his nose are familiar. Yet unlike usual, Jiho’s body tensed out of nervousness.
Either Yiwon didn’t notice or he chose to ignore the changes in Jiho. Yiwon chuckled lowly and used the arm wrapped around Jiho’s waist to touch Jiho. His fingers, which are thicker and sturdier than Jiho’s, rubbed the skin under Jiho’s thin shirt.
“Honey.”
“Wh, what?”
“I can teach you something even better.”
Jiho instantly turned bright red. He can tell that this guy isn’t talking about anything pure. And that he had noticed that Jiho didn’t know what to do.
“Joo, Joo Yiwon….”
Jiho grabbed Yiwon’s arm and fidgeted. He needs to push Yiwon away, but for some reason, his hand won’t move. Instead, he just wants to lean more into Yiwon….
“Jiho-ya.”
“…”
“Should I teach you? The better thing?”
Every time Yiwon whispers, his warm breath tickles his ear, making it hard to resist. His breath can’t be that hot, but Jiho feels like his ear is burning.
He feels dizzy for some reason. Yiwon supported Jiho as he staggered and brought his lips close to Jiho’s red ear.
“It’s something Honey likes too…. I’ll teach you, eung?”
“I-I’m good.”
“Really? You don’t need it? Then….”
Jiho got a bad feeling as Yiwon lowered his voice and he trembled. Did Joo Yiwon use a skill? How else can someone’s voice be so hypnotizing? Impossible.
In the critical moment when Yiwon’s hand was about to slip to Jiho’s side….
Yiwon’s terminal rang loudly.
“…”
Yiwon usually keeps his terminal silent. But when the Hunter Association deems Joo Yiwon absolutely necessary for a situation, the emergency alert rings regardless.
In other words, there’s an emergency.
Someone might be in danger. That alone is more than enough to startle Jiho awake from his trance. With Jiho urging Yiwon to hurry up and answer the call, Yiwon was forced to irritably pick up.
Jiho listened in on what was being said through the terminal. Hearing that the situation was serious because an S-rank gate had suddenly opened in Gunsan and that monsters were spilling out, Jiho grew concerned.
Yiwon glanced back at Jiho before letting out a sigh. He unwillingly revealed his location. A few seconds later, Hwang Hye Lim opened up a space and appeared.
“I will open it right away.”
Hye Lim didn’t even properly look at Jiho or Yiwon before preparing to move. Like Yiwon, she must’ve been urgently summoned, as she was only wearing a pair of pajama shorts and a long coat like she had rushed out of her house.
While Hye Lim used her skill, Yiwon spoke to Jiho with an expression that screamed annoyance.
“Hoo…. See you later, Jiho.”
“Should I go too?”
“No, just stay here…. Who knows if there’s another situation? It’s a waste of three S-ranks.”
Yiwon was going to end at stay here, but he added on more words once he saw that Jiho’s expression had darkened. Like he said, it’s better for Jiho to wait here just in case another emergency occurs.
“Okay.”
“See you later, Honey.”
“Be careful.”
Yiwon exchanged farewells to Jiho, who was nodding obediently, and stepped into Hye Lim’s [Short-Distance Transfer] portal that she had opened.
“See you next time.”
After Hye Lim hurried into the portal, Jiho was left alone.
“Hopefully nothing happens.”
Since the two left quickly, nothing big will happen. He doesn’t have to worry but….
For some reason, his heart feels empty.
“…”
What should he do now? Jiho thought they could spend some time together, but Yiwon left and now he’s alone.
He doesn’t want to go home with this strange down feeling.
Why should he feel so down? Jiho thought about the huge amount of gold newly added to his account. That didn’t lift his spirits as much as he thought it would, but he did feel a little better.
Should he do some shopping? Or maybe patrol the city while he walks? He has a lot of time on his hands anyways, so Jiho started walking with the intent to find something to do.
But he couldn’t walk for long.
Was it five minutes? Jiho’s relaxed senses suddenly sharpened.
He could feel an unfamiliar wave of mana hit the peaceful Earth.
“What the heck?”
Not only did an unpredicted S-rank gate open up in Gunsan, but an unpredicted fissure opened up in Seoul too?
By the time he sensed this change, it was too late to do anything. Feeling that the dungeon was pulling him in, Jiho prepared for landing.
Just then, someone grabbed Jiho into a tight hug.
‘Who….’
Jiho’s vision went dark before he could ask. Jiho’s body was swept away by the intense wave of mana and he fell through the gate into another world.
“Ugh….”
Jiho held his head from the lingering dizziness from the teleportation as he opened his eyes.
He thought he didn’t feel the impact from falling; turns out someone was standing up with Jiho in his arms, calm like nothing happened.
Actually, the word calm doesn’t fit this person. This man who looks more natural in dungeons than cities is Delta’s vice-guildmaster.
“…Hunter Cho Seung Taek.”
“Hunter Shin gets swept up into things very often. You should be more careful.”
Can’t he say the same thing about him?
On top of that, Jiho had noticed that Cho Seung Taek used informal speech in his messages, but he’s naturally using informal speech face-to-face too. Of course, because Jiho isn’t about to argue with a 40-something-year-old man about the use of formal speech, he obediently agreed.
“Yes, I will be careful.”
Jiho answered without a fuss before coming down from Cho Seung Taek’s arms.
He feels the dungeon’s mana, which he’s grown more familiar with. The architecture might look different from that on Earth, but this was obviously a village.
‘This is also a world people lived in.’
He can’t look at dungeons casually anymore. Jiho sighed as he looked around.
Other people had been swept up in this and fainted.
“Three….”
“A small amount.”
Cho Seung Taek replied to Jiho’s distress. After all, tens of people will often be sucked into a Sunken Dungeon and die because there’s not a single hunter.
However, with two S-rank hunters and three ordinary people here, there shouldn’t be any accidents as long as the ordinary people are careful.
Plus, the person who entered with them is Cho Seung Taek.
Jiho sneakily opened Seung Taek’s system window.
Status
| Name | Cho Seung Taek |
| Occupation | Delta’s Vice-Guildmaster |
| Rank | S |
| Title | The One Who Moves in the Shadows |
| HP | 2804 |
| MP | 3388 |
| STR | 1589 |
| AGI | 1005 |
| Skill | Super Recovery (SS) Poisonous Breath (SS) Perfect Shot (S) Hell’s Flames (S) Blood Curse (S) Magic Reflection (A) Anya’s Magic (A) One in Control (A) Gift of a Leader (A) Warning (B) |
Cho Seung Taek is one of the strongest hunters Jiho’s ever seen. He’s almost at the level of Yang Hojin, who’s a 1000-year-old gumiho. Jiho doesn’t think there’s another human who can follow Cho Seung Taek.
Truthfully, at this level, he should really be classified as an SS-rank. But because there’s a monster at SS-rank, everyone else is ranked as an S-rank.
“First, should we wake those young ones? We can’t just leave them on the cold ground.”
While Jiho was checking the system window, Seung Taek started to wake the passerbys up. Since they were only passed out due to the teleportation, they regained consciousness quickly.
Upon checking the situation they were in, their faces paled, but once they saw Jiho and Seung Taek, they visibly looked relieved.
The death rate for people sucked into Sunken Dungeons is close to 100%. But with two S-rank hunters? Even ordinary people will find it hard to die here.
Seung Taek started a conversation with the three people like they were familiar.
“Are the three of you friends?”
“Ah, these two are a couple, I’m a friend.”
“Ohh, why did you tactlessly disturb a date?”
“At first, only we were supposed to meet, but this f*… friend called his girlfriend over!”
“So what, the three of us can hang out together.”
“The three of us can hang out together once you two break up. It makes me shiver when I’m stuck between you two!?”
“Well we won’t break up, so the three of us will never hang out for the rest of our lives.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“The three of us saw each other every day when we were young.”
“That’s when we were young.”
Though they bickered, the three looked close. They introduced themselves. All three of them are 24 years old. The girl’s name is Choi Sehee, her boyfriend Kim Dae Hoon, and their friend Ji Yun Tae.
It looks like all three of them don’t have a lot of fear. They quickly adjusted to the dungeon and looked around curiously.
“Wow, I never thought I’d enter a dungeon.”
“It’s better to not enter one. A non-awakened one will die if they enter a dungeon…. We were lucky this time.”
“I am an awakened one?”
“What is an F-rank going to do.”
“Are you an F-rank?”
Jiho was listening to the three when he suddenly inserted himself into the conversation. Choi Sehee, who said she was an F-rank, took a few steps back in surprise. She took three steps back with round eyes before covering her open mouth with her hand.
Was she really that surprised….
Jiho was about to feel slightly hurt when Choi Sehee’s face turned bright red.
“I, I’m a fan.”
“Ah, thank you.”
From her nervousness and shaky voice to her sparkling eyes, it doesn’t look like she’s lying. Jiho secretly felt relieved and smiled at her. Seeing this, Sehee clenched her fist in excitement.
“I am cheering for you! C-can I get an autograph?”
“Once we leave.”
“Wow, th-thank you so much. Wow. Amazing….”
Choi Sehee mumbled about how she couldn’t believe how handsome Jiho was behind her covered mouth before glancing at her boyfriend’s face. When she saw Kim Dae Hoon, Choi Sehee suddenly calmed down as though she had reached a state of enlightenment regarding a detachment from desire.
“…Was I just compared?”
Choi Sehee ignored her boyfriend’s bitterness, and Kim Dae Hoon couldn’t bring himself to argue. All he could do was increase the distance between himself and Shin Jiho. While the two fell silent, Ji Yun Tae came up to them.
“I have a question, is it okay if I ask you something?”
“Yes?”
“Um, are things between you and Joo Yiwon really going well….”
Choi Sehee and Kim Dae Hoon covered his reckless mouth from behind, but it was already too late. Jiho, who heard everything, awkwardly chuckled. He heard that people were talking about it on the internet, but he never thought someone would ask him that to his face.
“…I am not in any relationship with him.”
“No way….”
Ji Yun Tae shook his head like that made no sense before Choi Sehee pinched his side. Jiho doesn’t understand why he doesn’t believe the answer to his own question. Those people just enjoy internet gossip….
“…”
Jiho turned his body like he was inspecting the dungeon. When he lifted his hand and touched the corner of his mouth, he felt his slightly upturned lips and vaguely warm cheeks.
It’s because he’s making this face that they don’t believe his denial.
But as soon as he heard the question, Jiho remembered Joo Yiwon’s words and actions before he left for Gunsan.
If he hadn’t left, what was he going to teach him?
Jiho doesn’t have a clue. Jiho took a deep breath and tried to ignore his slightly aching head and hot cheeks.
LaZ Bird Corner
Aw Jiho…. He’s so cute….
Leave a Reply